You’ve probably heard the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So how many words are hundreds of photos from Greer’s early years worth?
“It is almost every known photo from the first 75 years. It is the most complete comprehensive collection of grooves early photographs that’s ever been published,” Greer Heritage Museum Director David Lovegrove said.
For Greer Heritage Museum Director David Lovegrove it’s worth about four years of research culminating in his recently published book “Greer: Past in Pictures.”
“I really aimed to the pictures not just to show you the city but to see what’s behind the picture. That helps you understand how we got here today,” Lovegrove said.
Lovegrove recently held a book signing at Josey’s Chuck Wagon. He says it was important for him to capture the essence of how Greer started.
“And then, really think well it is a book of photographs, and needed to capture the core history of the founding of Greer,” he said.
This meant endless hours of searching for and finding photos, plus speaking with people in the lineage of the core families who founded Greer.
Some of Lovegrove’s favorite photos you’ll find in the book include this one of Viola Kirkwood’s half optometrist half jeweler storefront.
“And we found a photograph of their store on Trade, never been published before,” Lovegrove said.
And this one of a historic home located on the corner of Trade Street and Victoria Street.
“And at the very end, it was literally the last picture I put in the book I found a photograph of the Bailey home,” he said.
As for how many words these pictures are worth—Lovegrove is hoping its the photos themselves that tell the story behind Greer and the people who helped make the city a reality.
“For me, these are the people in the moments that had to happen there was sacrifice happening on the parts of thousands of people so that we could enjoy this town today,” Lovegrove said.
You can find the book for sale at the museum or online on Amazon.